Disney has just added another film to the Billionaires’ Club, as their live action remake of “Beauty and the Beast” became the 29th film — and the 14th from the House of Mouse — to gross more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office on Thursday.
Released back on March 17, the film reached the billion-dollar target in 26 days, starting with a domestic opening weekend total of $174.7 million that has since ballooned to a $438 million cume, more than the animated original’s $425 million worldwide total.
Overseas, the film has enjoyed strong results from all major markets, including $85 million in China, $72 million in the U.K., and even $14.5 million in Russia, where the film got a 16+ rating for the gay undertones given to Gaston’s buddy, LeFou.
It has also managed to beat out some major recent titles with its $227 million total in Europe, outgrossing some major comic book movies like “Deadpool,” “Captain America: Civil War,” “Batman v Superman,” and “Suicide Squad” across the Atlantic.
“Beauty” now needs just around $25 million to pass “Alice In Wonderland” and crack the top 25 all-time highest grossing films list, and it could reach that total next weekend when it opens in Japan.
With “Beauty and the Beast” now past the ten-digit milestone, the last five movies to gross a billion worldwide have all come from Disney. The other four films, “Zootopia,” “Captain America: Civil War,” “Finding Dory,” and “Rogue One,” have all reached that mark within the last twelve months. The last non-Disney billion-dollar film was Universal/Illumination’s “Minions,” which reached that mark back in August 2015.
In the months to come, Disney could have as much as four more billion-dollar hits coming down the pipe, with “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” “Cars 3,” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” all likely to hit that mark.